Semioethics as an axiology of care for the self-other: a Welbian genealogy

Tracing semioethics’ theoretical roots to the philosophy of Victoria Welby’s significs develops an ethical framework to counter dispassionate, academic dichotomies of the human condition. Via the synthesis of semiotics, ethics, and significs, semioethics reorientates conceptions of the global subject, beyond racial, gender, class, or cultural separatism. Through considering the Welbian genealogy, this chapter suggests that the theoretical scope of semioethics is threefold. First, the study considers the dialogic relevance of the Welbian genealogy as a transdisciplinary epistemology of philosophy, multiplicity of genres, and social praxis. Second, it develops significs’ dialogic of social subjectivity. Third, fusing these categories as an ontoepistemology, the Welbian genealogical framework develops revelatory insights into the semioethical imperative of care for the interwoven self-other.